PALM COAST - Home is Where, a four-piece emo band from Palm Coast, are receiving widespread attention and praise for their new album, 'The Whaler'. The band has risen from various house shows in the Palm Coast area to rising star status with multiple national tours under their belt.
With the release of 'The Whaler' this month, Home is Where are popping up in some of the most recognized music publications on the internet. Pitchfork, Consequence of Sound, the Grammys, Paste, Stereogum, and dozens more have featured the band, and the quartet have emerged as possible contenders for certain major music awards.
The band was founded in 2017, by original members Brandon MacDonald, Trace George, Connor O'Brien, and Joe Gardella. When George, the band's guitarist, enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps he was succeeded by Tilley Komorny, forming the band's current lineup.
Building off of previous releases, 'The Whaler' deals with themes of mortality, dread, and being constrained by seemingly repetitive tragedy. Singer MacDonald said in an interview with Consequence of Sound that much of the album's narrative storyline stems from the premise of 9/11 occurring each and every day, in a sort of Groundhog Day-like time loop. Home is Where has never shied away from dark and sometimes shocking analogies to deliver a more human sentiment layered within.
The group's previous release, 2021's 'I Became Birds', had a similarly monolithic concept: the album's lyrical and sonic whiplash all weaved through the theme of coming to terms with gender crisis. Both MacDonald and Komorny are transgender women whose social angst comes from a very personal place.
Where most Palm Coast creators see their most personal works live in relative seclusion from public fanfare (this writer included), Home is Where are now quite well-known in the music scene they've chosen to enter. 'The Whaler' has its own Wikipedia entry, as does the band itself as of this week.
Next month, the band will embark on its 'Headlights in a Deer' tour, covering much of the continental USA. Per their social media channels:
